Designing Databases for Historical Research

A. Introduction

The purpose of this Historical Research Handbook is to
provide an introduction to designing databases for use in
historical research. It will provide an overview of important
concepts – both historical in nature and in terms of databases –
that the historian will need to consider before embarking upon
designing a database, and it will provide a number of starting
points for overcoming certain design problems that specifically
affect historians when they come to wrestle their sources into a
database. This Handbook does not cover the actual
construction of databases for historical research in any
practical manner.